Immortality, Slayer Style
by Quicksilver
Summary: Buffy's first battle as an Immortal. A semi-epilogue/sidestory to my other Buffy/Highlander pieces, but stands alone.


Quicksilver's Quill Offers:  
  
Immortality, Slayer Style  
  
mbsilvana@yahoo.com  
  
standard disclaimers  
  
NOTE: The series "Immortals, Prophecies and the Slayer" is in this order:  
  
Of Immortals and Other Disasters  
  
Immortal Beloved  
  
Immortal Style, Slayer Sarcasm  
  
Several Brands of Immortality  
  
Immortality, Slayer Style  
  
Until Later  
  
I HAVE NO PLANS TO CONTINUE (I feel the series is complete), AND THERE ARE NO OTHER STORIES IN THIS SERIES. I haven't seen Highlander since season six ended, and I stopped following Buffy when Angel left. While I appreciate the enthusiasm this series has spawned, I've moved on. I'm finally uploading the last two stories to ff.net to the record is complete, but it's been at least three years since I worked on this. My writing has matured, and I'm playing in other fandoms. Reviews are great, but I'm not doing more!  
  
*sighs* Sorry the the display of temper- I'm just VERY tired of these questions.  
  
Enjoy. The last two pieces in ths series are the best.  
  
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Buffy crouched in the corner of the dark warehouse. Richie had warned her that this would happen- she hadn't wanted to believe him, and so had pushed the thought as far as she could from her mind as possible. Denial was a wonderful defense mechanism, but it hardly helped when one was faced with reality.  
  
She was the Slayer, but she was also an Immortal. And Immortals lived by one code- "There can Only Be One". So therefore, they all went around and tried to chop each others' heads off. Buffy had thought it was pretty stupid, and had told Richie so once. He'd smiled and pushed some strands of his red hair out of his eyes, and answered her quite tartly. It still made her sizzle when she thought of it. "And a teenage girl chasing vampires around to shove a piece of wood in their chest isn't just as crazy?"  
  
Now, on her senior trip to Hawaii, she'd finally had the misfortune to run into one of the not-nice Immortals, who had promptly challenged her. She managed to talk him into moving the fight a little ways away, then took off into the shadows, trying to clear her somewhat panicked mind.  
  
There was no way out of this aside from killing him. And after all the taunts he'd thrown at her, that was certainly something she wanted to do. She just wasn't sure how she was going to go about it.  
  
She finally found a water pipe that ran parallel to the floor that was strong enough to support her weight. Holding the sword in her left hand, she did a one-handed handstand on top of it. This reminded her of the first time she had met Angel, just before the Harvest. She waited patiently until the other Immortal came a little too close.  
  
She swung down, kicking out with the momentum she had gained. She managed to graze him and knock him back, but he maintained his balance. She went flying backwards, but flipped up to her feet without skipping a beat, performing one of the many martial arts moves she used when Slaying.  
  
The other Immortal looked about thirty, with calm green eyes and light blond hair. He tsked. "You really shouldn't try to sneak up on a person. It isn't nice."  
  
"I don't suppose you'd let me buy you a cup of coffee and call this whole crazy thing off?" she shot back, though she was more then half- serious.  
  
"There can be only one!" he yelled as an answer, lunging forward in a smooth move.  
  
Richie had told her that male Immortals relied on strength and force, while females tended to use agility and guile. Buffy was in the unique position of being able to take both styles. Unfortunately, as the Slayer, she had learned some techniques that ran contrary to what a good swordfighter would need.  
  
She parried his move, then kicked out, trying to disarm him with her left foot. He brought the heel of his hand down heavily on her left before she could pull back. All right, she thought. Getting a sword away from an Immortal is like trying to steal candy from a six-year old. New plan!  
  
She did a back flip, no hands, trying to distract him with a little showing off (and a nice look up her skirt). Shifting her grip, she went forwards, trying to use some of the brute force that was usually applied by male Immortals. He was good, and she started to get desperate. For all she knew , he'd had a thousand years of experience.  
  
All right, what's plan C? she wondered. She remembered Methos telling her about his most infamous secret- the knife he'd use when a broad sword wasn't enough. She didn't have any knives on her, but she did have....  
  
She let the man corner her, hoping that this would work. "There can only be one!" he yelled again, sounding like a broken record. He pinned her sword to the floor, and was about to raise his for a killing blow when Buffy made her move. Reaching down behind her neck, she pulled a stake that she had kept secreted there. She shove it into his chest with the ease of long practice. The Immortal's eyes grew wide as she smiled up at him.  
  
"And it's not gonna be you," she said, watching the sword fall from his hand. Stakes apparently could kill Immortals as well. She grabbed her own blade and brought it up, severing his head from his shoulders. The blood splattered and she cursed, anticipating yet another astronomical dry-cleaning bill.  
  
She sat panting... and then the Quickening hit.  
  
It was like suddenly being aware of every cell in her body. Electricity coursed through her, and images flashed in her mind. Death and life became one, and there was nothing to be compared to her. After an eternity, it was over, and Buffy knelt in the blood, shaken. Then tears came, tears that she thought would never cease.  
  
"Buffy?" a voice asked, and she raised her head to see Willow approaching cautiously.  
  
"How much did you see?" Buffy asked in a tired voice, wiping her eyes.  
  
"Enough," Willow said. "The electric show- the Quickening, right?- was amazing. But it looked like it hurt."  
  
Buffy shrugged. "Did you follow me?"  
  
The red head flushed. "Since Giles isn't here, I'm suppose to act as your pseudo-watcher." She glanced around the carnage. "Good thing I came, too. Immortals don't disappear the way vamps do when they're killed."  
  
"What can you do about it?" Buffy asked as she started to worry about murder charges being pressed.  
  
Willow flashed a tired smile. "I got a business card that Watchers use to clean up after you Immortals. Give me half an hour, and they'll be no sign of anything happening here."  
  
"I knew the Watchers had to be good for something," Buffy said caustically. Using her sword as a cane, Buffy propped herself up on her feet.  
  
Willow, meanwhile, was examining the body. "You STAKED him?" she asked, pointing to the piece of wood sticking up from the man's chest.  
  
Buffy smiled faintly, looking a bit more like her old self. "What can I say? Sometimes you just gotta stick with what ya know."  
  
THE END 


End file.
